iamthenublack: Eric Larkin

I should really title this ‘When Internet addiction pays off”…but I won’t. I once had an idea in my final year of university to raise the question of whether there was colour in design (the skin kind…not the CYMK kind)…I got feedback that my tutors didn’t want me to be the Black student doing the cliched “Black project” – and yet  3 years into my quest to find designers like myself continues.

And so comes the part where I stumble across Eric Larkin’s work (via Kiss My Black Ads…another dope website) , send him an e-mail and get what has to be some of the best answers to questions I’ve posted on here to date. Open-ended questions = open ended answers apparently, lol.

Enjoy x

 

Introduce yourself

Hi. I am Eric Larkin. I am a man. I am a poet. I am an artist. I am a son of God. I am whatever the hell I am – art director, advertiser, designer, bad friend, horrible lover.

Favourite lyric from a song

If I could remember song lyrics, I wouldn’t be an art director.whitehouse fro_eric larkin

What inspires you?

Good inspiration starts with public transportation. If you forget what is cool, if you forget what is rugged, if you forget the reality of life – jump on a bus or a subway. Remember to wear dark sunglasses – people will never notice that you are staring at them or listening in on their conversations.

If you grow a set of cojones, you might even jump in the conversation. People, lives, stories, gossip, drama, love, passion, anger inspire me – all daily occurrences on the SLU Street car here in Seattle.

thenublack philosophy/mantra according to Eric Larkin

Once you blog black, you’ll never go back.

Past and present icons?

Jackson Pollock is cool. His art was just the fact that he made art. He is my kick in the pants to “just do/make it.”

Kehinde Wiley is my favorite artist to date. I love to look at his work because it says to much. It redeems so much of black culture. He recently did a series of portraits in Africa that brought me to tears.

Check me out

my fun

my work

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